2012 Book List

Here is a list of the books I read in 2012.

Galapagos - Kurt Vonnegut
Chariots of the Gods - Erich Von Daniken
The X President - Philip Baruth
Heat Wave - Richard Castle
The Island of Doctor Moreau - H.G. Wells
The Knowland Retribution - Richard Greener
Ubik - Philip K. Dick
The Ghost Map - Steven Johnson
Naked Heat - Richard Castle
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Mysterious Affair at Styles - Agatha Christie

Eleven books in a year is pretty good for me.  Some were books my husband or kids already owned.  Others were library books.  Still others I downloaded to my new Kindle (some paid, some free).  One (Naked Heat) I actually bought a paper copy of in order to read it.  And only one was I forced to read (The Ghost Map) due to teaching obligations.  Not a bad year.  Maybe, at some point, I'll once again write some actual reviews of the books I read.  We'll see what next year holds.

Reelected!

As is obvious by the previous post, I'm happy to see that President Obama has won a second term.  Results from here in Alabama were about what I had expected; however, Judge Roy Moore's opponent, Bob Vance, gave a better showing than I had expected.

I am very happy to hear, too, that Jon Tester (D-Mont) has won reelection to his senate seat in Montana.  Obviously, here in Alabama I'm a long way from Montana, but I do love the state and I'm happy to see Tester pull it out in that tight race.  I've followed that race closer than some here at home.  Way to go Jon!

I voted!

I did my civic duty and voted.  I voted for Obama/Biden, but since I live in Alabama, I'm sure most of the few people I had the option of voting for will win.  It is AMAZING how many offices were not contested.  But at least I did have the opportunity to vote against Martha Roby, so I most certainly did.

I also had the option of voting on 11 Amendments to our ridiculous state constitution.  I did some research into the amendments, but found it rather confusing on many fronts.  I ultimately didn't vote on Amendment #9, because there were so many arguments about hidden agendas in the language of the amendment.  I figured I didn't want to accidentally vote for something I didn't really want.  I think the state legislature puts a lot of effort into misleading the voters of Alabama.  It is a shame that politicians won't just honestly represent what they want to accomplish and let the people decide without all the dishonest word games.

Music Midtown Festival

Wow, it's been a while since I posted anything here. But this definitely seemed worth posting about. I went to the Music Midtown Festival over the weekend. It was so much fun. I've never been to a music festival like this before. It was like a sea of people out there. We got pretty close to the stage for the shows we were interested in.

This was Garbage performing.

Here is a picture of me and my  husband, just to prove we were actually there.

This is a picture of the crowd behind us before the Florence + the Machine show.

This is the crowd in front of us while they were setting up for Florence + the Machine.

And then, the main event. . .Pearl Jam.  This was the only picture I got that wasn't just a blur of light.  We managed to get pretty close to the stage, but there were soooo many people it was still hard to see.  I held the camera up over my head to get this pic. 

It was so amazing to actually be there and be down so close to the stage where everyone is singing and packed together like sardines.  When you are that close you can feel the music in your chest.  I had a great time and I'm so glad we went.

I'm looking forward to going to see Eddie Vedder perform in Jacksonville, FL in November.  I know it will be a completely different kind of show there, but I'm also sure I'll have a better view of the stage and a place to sit down.  :)